Making Meetings Work Facilitator Guid

Making Meetings Work!

East Central Division RFL Summit 2011 Facilitator Guide

Making Meetings Work!Relay Leadership Summit 2011

Module Overview

Reminder: notes to the facilitator are in blue; text in purple are trump learning styles

Audience: Community Level Relay For Life volunteers and staff

Objectives: Developing an agenda that will get the job done & stay on track Thinking outside the box to keep participants engaged Motivating participants to be involved and carry-out assignments

Time Required: 1 hr 15 minutes

Pre-Summit Work: Flip Charts

Supply List: Markers (place at tables before the breakout) Scratch paper (enough for all breakout participants, place at table before the

breakout begins) Stickers (place at tables before the breakout) Bad agenda sample (place one on each table before the breakout) ( make 2

dozen copies) Good agenda sample (make 2 dozen copies) Index cards (place 3-4 cards per table before the breakout) (one word per

each card)o Mission momento Fundraisingo Recruitmento Survivorso Onlineo ACS CANo Sponsorshipo Event Fundraisero Blitzo Challengeo Activitieso Weather Plano Committee Vacancieso Leadershipo Post event fundraisero Team Retention

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o Publicity 13 Entertainment Engagers- answer key (4 copies) Evaluation (enough for each person during each breakout)

Program Handouts:1. Relay Committee Training List2. Meeting Development Best Practices3. Agenda Meeting Worksheet4. Meeting Minute Template

Agenda: Welcome & Objectives 5 minutesDeveloping a Productive Agenda 25 minutesGetting Participants’ Attention 15 minutesMotivation is Key 20 minutesMoving Forward! 10 minutes

Making Meetings WorkInsert Facilitator Names

Developing an agenda that will get the job done & stay on track Thinking outside the box to keep participants engaged Motivating participants to be involved and carry-out assignments

You will need to

create 4 of these, one for each breakout

Best Birthday Party Ever

You will need to


Effective Meeting Guidelines: ____________ information Get ___________ Generate _________ ___________ something Evaluate __________ Make ____________

Next _____ date Upcoming _______ Welcome _______members/teams Update on ______________

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You will need to


Celebrate ___________ Updates from sub-committee chairs ________ forum ___ ________and __ _______ information A ____________

Meeting with leadership 3-4 weeks prior to meeting to discuss agenda topics

Preparing and sending invites 2-3 weeks prior to meeting Reminding participants a day or two before the meeting

You will need to

create 4 of these, one for each breakou

B- Outline an incident.

I- Ask for a show of hands.

R- Ask a question.

T- Make a promise.

H- Get them laughing.

D- Make an outrageous statement.

A- Use an unusual statistic.

Y- Use a visual aid or prop.

Post Meeting Communication Posting resources/ minutes to event website Follow-up with absent participants Follow-up on questions and/or resource requested immediately Complete tasks within one week of the meeting

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Welcome & Objectives: 5 minutes________________________________________________________________

Welcome / IntroductionsFacilitators will introduce themselves.

This weekend we are diving into aspects that help us, as volunteer leaders, to recruit the right person for the job, connect individuals with our mission and overcome those pesky roadblocks that get in our way. In this breakout, Making Meetings Work, we will brainstorm ways to keep our committee members and/or team members want to come our meetings and act up on the action items we present. But more importantly we will learn how to engage these volunteers and develop a productive agenda that will get the job each month!

Talking Objectives Facilitators pick 3 people to read a line from the flipchart

Developing an agenda that will get the job done & stay on track Thinking outside the box to keep participants engaged Motivating participants to be involved and carry-out assignments

IcebreakerAsk participants to think of the best birthday party they ever attended and what components of the party made it special. Jot down their ideas on a piece of flip chart paper.

Best Birthday Party Ever

Things to get out of the audience: (ask questions based on ideas below to pull out of audience)

Good music Creative invites Dress-up Food Lots of energy Fun activities/games Reminder of why they are there/celebration Location

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Developing a Productive Agenda: 25 minutes________________________________________________________________

Have already on the table scratch paper (piece for each person), stickers and paperclips.

Images Exercise #1: Everyone take a piece of scratch paper. Now, I want you to follow my directions exactly as I give them. (Give specific directions about putting stickers on paper, such as in straight line or in corners, and aligning the paper clips in a certain pattern. Give a new direction every few seconds but periodically ask: Is all OK? Can I help you?)

Images Exercise #2: Would everyone please flip the scratch paper over. Now I want you to use the stickers and draw an image. It would be great if it had a Relay message. Celebrate, Remember, Fight Back. Does anyone have any questions? (Then let them work to complete the task as you walk around the room so you are available but not interrupting).

When finished, have everyone hold up their drawings. Ask questions and gain feedback from the audience:

What type of direction did you like best? The first example or the second? Why? Does anyone see themselves as the first type of leader? Where you tell people

exactly what you want to see the end product to look like? What is the most effective way of leading? What did we learn about delegation?

All too often we rely on our staff partners to help us develop our meeting agendas, referencing back to exercise #1- many of us may have had the step by step approach or prefer it. But, if we are to be true entrepreneurs, we should see our staff partners as helpers in the process; those people who can provide us the tools, direction and follow up periodically is the best approach to give us the ownership and give meetings our own style. Therefore, when we meet with our volunteers we must ensure that we are doing our job to properly educate them on their tasks through resources, as well as explain their expectations.

How are you all training new volunteers on Relay and the America Cancer Society? (allow time for people to respond)

If you turn to page ____ in your program, you will see a great checklist that can get you on the right track to ensure your new committee members are coming to the table with the proper resources to understand their role. And once you have better educated volunteers, your meetings will run much smoother for everyone will see the end goal.

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Relay Committee Training List

Writing/Movement Right now we would like for you to review the checklist and put an X on those items you are already doing. When complete, please stand up.

Talking Pick three people to remain standing and ask the rest to sit down. Pose a question to each participant:

What resources were you not aware of from the checklist? What resources does your committee already provide? Did you find this checklist helpful?

Once we have our volunteers trained as they come on board, we must look to developing our meetings so they are productive, making everyone feel it is worth their time and energy to come each month.

Turn to page ____ in your program to capture the answers as we go through the next few sections.

Talking/Movement In each meeting your event conducts, anything that is discussed should fall into one of these categories: (have people raise their hand with their guesses, the correct answer is listed below in blue; with each correct answer ask someone to give an example on how that aspect could be carried out in a meeting)

Committee Meeting Development

Effective Meeting Guidelines: __exchange________ information Get __input_______ Generate __ideas______ _learn_______ something Evaluate __alternatives__________ Make __decisions___________

The content within an agenda will make or break the attendance of your meeting, but how?

Why would an agenda affect if people attend a meeting? (allow time for responses)

To further explain the importance of an agenda, let’s take a look at two right now:

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Bad Agenda Sample

Talking Direct each table to review the agenda sample found at their table, allow a few minutes for the group to talk about the agenda. Coach them to note what is missing, what they would add, change, etc.

Get everyone’s attention and have each table share one item that they would change/add.

Now let’s take a look at a different agenda, once again have each table review the agenda and make note of the differences.

Good Agenda Sample

Looking at the revised agenda, what about this agenda would make you want to come to a meeting? Why? (allow time for responses)

With the second agenda you know exactly what the purpose is behind the meeting, what it is to be accomplished, etc. The first one doesn’t give you much idea or explain why your presence is needed. For example:

Rather than writing down "recruit more teams" as an agenda item, analyze the goal for the item. Write it as a specific task that needs done such as: "determine what affiliations in the community we do not have represented at Relay".

Making a task focused agenda helps to organize the thinking of the participants and makes it very clear exactly what is being done or asked for.

Writing Therefore the answer to letter B on page ___ in your program is, what?

b) To create a productive agenda, be sure to list a _objective___ or a __action item____ to each line item.

The best tool to help you and your leadership develop the agenda are your 2012 Relay Event and Analysis Plans, as well as the detailed Relay Timeline- if you are unsure about these resources please make a note to talk with your staff partner. (these are answers for letter c)

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Writing/talking There are index cards with an agenda item at your table- get into groups of 2-3, from people not at your table. Your job is to re-write the word or phrase so that is has an objective or an action item. (allow a few minutes for the pairs or triads up get up and discuss their agenda topic)

Have everyone go back to their seats and pose the following questions, calling out various people to answer.

Call upon 3 groups to share what they came up with. How did this exercise change the way you think of developing your agenda? What will you do to implement these ideas in your next meeting?

Talking/Writing Next take a look at the items we should always include in our agendas: call on people to guess

Next __meeting_____ date Upcoming _events/fundraisers_______ Welcome __new_______ members/teams Update on ___all event goals______________ Celebrate __successes____________ Updates from sub-committee chairs __open_______ forum ___contact________and ___website_______ information A _challenge_____

If you have trouble in leading your leadership into developing an agenda, turn to page ____ in your program to see an agenda template that asks probing questions to assist you in the process.

Agenda Meeting Worksheet

With any meeting comes minutes, which can always be tricky, another helpful piece, is this simple Meeting Minute Template.

Meeting Minute Template

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Getting Participants’ Attention: 15 minutes________________________________________________________________

So now we have our agenda developed, the next thing is to get people there! Let’s review a few simple reminders in communicating to our volunteers before a meeting.

Meeting with leadership 3-4 weeks prior to meeting to discuss agenda topics

Preparing and sending invites 2-3 weeks prior to meeting Reminding participants a day or two before the meeting

The best way to keep people coming back is by engaging them through the structure of the Agenda.

Talking/Writing Divide group into smaller subgroups and have them complete letter “E” on the Committee-Team Best Practice worksheet on page ______. Allow 5 minutes, regroup to go over the answers – see 13 Entertainment Agenda Engagers- answer key.

And do not forget the many resources we have available through the Division for invitations. Where can we find invitation & postcard templates that are available to us as volunteers? (pick someone to respond)

Answer: They are found on Brandwizard at www.acsbrand.org

Can someone explain what Brandwizard is for those who do not know?

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http://www.acsbrand.org/


Motivation is Key! 20 minutes________________________________________________________________The next best practices we will take a look at is how to best motivate adults. Each one of us is motivated differently and it is up to us, as leaders, to understand what are the different ways people are motivated so we can…

Talking/Writing Have the audience turn to page ___ in the program, letter G- to the Committee- Team Meeting Best practices handout. Ask participants to move around the room, finding a different person to answer each question, give 5 minutes. Regroup and review the answers below & have people share an example.

Create a need

Develop a sense of personal responsibility

Create and maintain interest

Structure experiences to apply to life

Give praise, encouragement and approval.

Foster wholesome competition

Get excited yourself.

Establish long range of objectives.

See the value of internal motives.

Intensify inter-personal relationships.

Give them a choice- lots of them.

Talking/Writing Lastly, let’s take a look at the ways to gain people’s attention. Do a group think to fill in the blanks of the flipchart below, then spell out BIRTHDAY to divide large group into small groups to think of an example of the attention getter they are assigned.

B- Outline an incident.

I- Ask for a show of hands.

R- Ask a question.

T- Make a promise.

H- Get them laughing.

D- Make an outrageous statement.

A- Use an unusual statistic.

Y- Use a visual aid or prop.

Moving Forward 10 minutes

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________________________________________________________________

Reference the last section on ‘Committee-Team Meeting Best Practices’ handout for additional tips/resources to keep in mind when leading a meeting.

Talking And don’t forget the follow-up is the most important piece after our meetings, things to keep in mind include. (pick on people to read aloud)

Post Meeting Communication Posting resources/ minutes to event website Follow-up with absent participants Follow-up on questions and/or resource requested immediately Complete tasks within one week of the meeting

Talking Now its time to share what you learned and put some of these best practices into action items. If we were to plan a committee meeting for next month, in October, what key points would we want to address and how can we make it fun?

Relay concepts to address: Committee vacancies Getting teams back from last year Developing a team recruitment plan Securing last year’s sponsors Making asks of new sponsors

Ask participants the following questions. What is a best practice you are excited to try? What is one question you still have on developing meetings? What will be your next step to improve meetings?

Please complete the evaluation on your tables before you leave.

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Making Meetings Work Facilitator Guid

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